


staring you down like the barrel of a gun

by earlgrey_milktea



Series: as long as you stand by me (ffxv works) [4]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Enemies, First Meetings, Gen, Implied Violence, Light Angst, MT Prompto, Tumblr: ffxvweek, confrontation on a battlefield
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-17
Updated: 2017-08-17
Packaged: 2018-12-16 08:05:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11824524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/earlgrey_milktea/pseuds/earlgrey_milktea
Summary: He locks eyes with the kid. It’s a mistake, Noctis knows, because those eyes are red like the MT soldiers but they’re expressive and fearful and alive and—human.“Fuck,” he hears Gladio mutter somewhere to his right.or, yet another chocobros come across MT!Prompto story.





	staring you down like the barrel of a gun

**Author's Note:**

> _ffxv week_  
>  day four: **just shoot already**
> 
> *no deaths, many!!!! gun mention  
> *open ending i guess  
> my first foray into MT!prompto though i have this unfinished doc dubbed 'prompto manifesto' where i take all my favourite prompto angst/tragic backstories and mash them all together so!! one day i will finish that and hopefully it will be more dramatic but also more h/c than this one

Noctis is really starting to hate road trips.

He thought that long drives meant more nap time, since Ignis seems to have a thing against Noctis driving and Gladio preferred to read rather than hold a conversation when they have the top down. But he hadn’t factored in the constant interruptions made by the loud whirring of airships flying overhead, a precursor to MT troops dropping down and surrounding them faster than Ignis can come up with a new recipe. 

“Noct, behind you!”

Noctis warps out of range and flips in midair, stabbing the MT clean through. It jerks on the ground for a second before lying still. Noctis wipes sweat from his eyes, glancing around to see what’s left.

By now, they’re used to impromptu battles in the middle of nowhere. Unfortunately. Noctis is pretty sure he can do this in his dreams—in fact, his dreams have been full of nothing but defending himself and his friends from Empire raids lately. Just one more thing to add to the mess his life has turned into.

Gladio is far across the plains, cutting down the last troopers charging his way. Ignis is over there, pulling his daggers out of another twitching MT. Noctis is about to warp over to Gladio when he hears a sound behind him.

He ducks, kicking up and spinning in a move that Gladio had drilled into him when he was sixteen. It’s flashy, but more than that, it allows him to jerk the rifle out of the MT’s hands, taking it for himself. Noctis grabs the gun and jabs the blunt end at the MT, knocking it clear of its feet.

He must have hit the MT harder than he thought, because the soldier bounces, falling backwards harshly, the jarring movement dislodging its helmet. Noctis immediately trains the rifles on it, holding his fingers steady over the foreign weapon. He knows how it works, but the Crownsguard has always preferred swords and bows to shooting things.

It’s a kid.

Underneath that ugly helmet is a kid, a boy, with a mop of sweaty blond hair, pale skin flushed with exertion, a smattering of freckles across his face, eyes wide and terrified as he stares up at Noctis. He can’t be much older than Noctis. No, he looks just as young and in over his head as Noctis is.

As Noctis stands over the fallen MT—no, boy—he can hear his friends’ footsteps as they pull up short behind him, the fizzing of electrical wires across the battlefield, the panicked heaving of the kid in front of him.

He locks eyes with the kid. It’s a mistake, Noctis knows, because those eyes are red like the MT soldiers but they’re expressive and fearful and alive and—human. 

“Fuck,” he hears Gladio mutter somewhere to his right.

Slowly, body visibly shaking, the boy drops his gaze and lowers his head. His gloved hands dig into the dirt where he’s fallen. It’s entirely too clear what the action means.

_ Just shoot, already. _

For a moment, Noctis forgets how to breathe. He’s destroyed dozens, maybe hundreds, of MTs since they set out and their road trip went straight down to hell. The training has been ingrained in him since he could walk, and then again when he recovered enough to walk. He never thought twice about it. These are the bad guys that stole his home away from him, the monsters that ruined his life.

But the boy in front of him is not what a monster should be. Monsters don’t shake so hard they look like they’re about to keel over and vomit. Monsters don’t surrender so meekly and wearily like this. Monsters don’t cry when faced with the ready barrel of their own gun.

“Noct,” Ignis says, but Noctis is already lowering the rifle.

“Shit,” Noctis mumbles. He tosses the gun to the ground, startling the boy on the ground, who stares up at him again, terrified and confused. “I’m not—I can’t. I won’t.”

There’s a pause as they all take that in. The blond kid stares at each of them in turn. He makes no move to grab for his abandoned weapon. Noctis doesn’t know what to do. His head hurts.

Ignis is the one to break the tense silence. “Alright,” he says, sounding firm and collected like he always has, and Noctis feels himself float down to steady ground. “We’ll take him back to camp with us. He can tell us what he knows. We’ll go from there.”

“Okay,” Noctis says. He looks back down into those burning red eyes. “I’m sorry,” he tells him, but he doesn’t know if the boy understands at all. He’s not entirely sure he himself knows what he’s apologizing for. 

Gladio secures the boy’s arms behind his back, and slowly, stepping over the broken armor of the MT soldiers, the four of them make their way back to the Regalia.

**Author's Note:**

> @puddingcatbae on tumblr/twitter


End file.
